The Malaysian Bar - With rhyme and reason

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With rhyme and reason

Monday, 08 August 2011 09:13am

©The Sun (Used by permission)
by Bissme S.

> Poet-writer Cecil Rajendra has done Malaysia proud by being the ﬁrst Asian to receive Denmark’s prestigious Diva award

RENOWNED Malaysian poet-writer Cecil Rajendra has become the first Asian to be conferred the prestigious Diva (Danish International Visiting Artistes) award by the Danish Arts Council.

The award, primarily intended to develop the Danish arts scene through dialogue and interaction with artistes of international repute and standing, will require Cecil to be based in Copenhagen, Denmark, for three months, starting today.

While there, Cecil will give talks and hold workshops and recitals of his poems. He is also scheduled to hold discussions on writing and poetry with Danish students, academicians, writers and readers. Several mainstream newspapers, literary magazines and journals will also interview him and publish his poems.

Cecil says he got to know the Danish Authors Society chairman Sally Altschuler, following his poetry recital at the Danish National Gallery during the 2009 Climate Summit in Copenhagen. Altschuler expressed an interest in having Cecil return to Denmark for an extended visit.

“Last year, Altschuler proposed my name to the Danish Arts Council for the Diva award. But even in my wildest dreams, I didn’t think I would get it,” says the 70-year-old poet.

To date, Cecil has published 21 books of poems with the latest, Scent of an Island, released last month in conjunction with the Georgetown Arts Festival in Penang.

Cecil has, in the past, made references to the fact that as a poet, he is treated like a prince abroad but a ‘pariah’ in his own country. He does not hide the fact that his work is more appreciated in foreign countries like Denmark than it is in Malaysia.

“Apart from a handful of local people who like my work, my poetry has never found acceptance in this country,” he laments. “I suspect it’s not due to the content of my poems but because I write in English, which is perceived as being somewhat ‘anti-patriotic’.”

On critics who label him as an attention seeker and being melodramatic for using poetry to highlight social issues, he says: “Whenever people are unable to comprehend anything, they immediately brand it attention-seeking and melodramatic.”

He says 30 years ago, he wrote a poem titled The Animal & Insect Act and local critics and academics branded it brazenly political, anti-government and subversive.

“Over the years, this poem has appeared in scores of anthologies, textbooks, calendars and diaries in several countries,” he points out. “This poem is now a permanet fixture on Poetry Jukebox (on the internet) and has attracted over three million hits!”

He also wrote a poem about the destruction of rainforests titled Requiem for a Rainforest 20 years ago and, again, the poem was dismissed as being ‘propagandistic’ and ‘anti-patriotic’.

“I was even branded ‘anti-loggist’ whatever that means!” he exclaims, adding: “In a knee-jerk reaction, the government impounded my passport in 1994 for six months as my environmental poems were perceived as ‘hurting the timber industry’.

“But today, Requiem for a Rainforest has been translated into Bahasa Malaysia and is used extensively in local schools and universities as part of our ‘Green’ curriculum.”

Cecil, who is a lawyer and founder of the Malaysian Bar legal aid scheme, is also the former chairman of the Bar Council’s human rights and legal aid committees. He is past president of Hakam (Human Rights Society of Malaysia) and the first recipient of the Malaysian Lifetime Humanitarian Award in 2005 for his pioneering legal aid work and inspiring poetry.

Nevertheless, Cecil describes himself as a “reluctant lawyer”. “I’ve never been passionate about law but I’m passionate about justice. The reason I went into the law profession was to see if I could do something about getting justice for the common person.”

Although known for having a reputation of being antiestablishment, Cecil is quick to dismiss it vehemently.

“In this country anyone with an independent mind is perceived as being antiestablishment,” he says. “All my life I’ve shunned the herd mentality. I’m not even a member of any sports or social club.”

People have wondered why, despite his passion for social issues and the environment, Cecil has shied away from dabbling in politics and pushing for change through the political process.

To this, he says: “I’ll answer this by paraphrasing [German-Swiss poet] Herman Hesse’s quote that humanity and politics are jealous gods and you cannot serve both.”

He adds that politics demands partisanship, while humanity forbids it.

When asked what is the greatest misconception people have about him, he replies with a sense of humour: “Every misconception about me probably has a grain of truth in it.

“Some say I’m arrogant and, on occasion, I probably am. Others say I’m subversive and a trouble-maker, and, on many an occasion I most definitely am.”

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